It's finally over ... the house is SOLD!

It's been a L*O*N*G (and costly) 11 months (& 10 days, but who's counting?) since I put the house & property on Stoneborough Court on the market. After many ups & downs & canceled closings & voided contracts, I finally closed on it today.

All I can say is, "Hallelujah, I am down to having only one place of which to take care & for which to pay maintenance and upkeep!"

closing on house TOMORROW

Hallelujah!

McCurdy's Auction called me this morning and said the lender had heard from the underwritter and should have the file back from them by noon today. We are set to close at 1:00 tomorrow.

update on sale of house

The good news is ...
I finally have another contract on my property on Stoneborough Ct.

The not so good news is ...
Even after negotiating them up $25,000 from their initial bid, their final offer was still $2,300 below the county tax appraisal on the property and over $12,500 below the contract I had in September that fell through due to the loan issues (which was already "low" due to the current market & loan situations).

In the end - with what it is costing me to continue to own it, the low probability of being able to rent it for enough to cover that, and the belief that it will be 2 to 3 years at least before the market turns around - I decided to take the offer and "stop the bleeding."

I don't have a closing date yet. This buyer does already have funding approval and the lender's appraiser went today to assess the property. I am hoping (praying!) to close before Christmas. The buyers wants in as soon as possible.

As for how I feel ... numb.

I'm trying to assess how far "in the hole" I am with the difference between what I am getting and what I expected to get when I took out a loan based on the equity I thought I had in the property, combined with the drain on resources with the ongoing expenses of having continued to own it for an additional 11 months.

Obviously, choosing to move and then get the house ready to market was not a good decision. Nor was the decision to spend thousands to make sure everything was repaired, in good order, etc., so that it would bring "top dollar." I doubt any of it added $1 to the final sale price.

Change "numb" to "ill."

house not sold & still working 3-day weeks

Sale of House:

As most of you are already aware, the sale of the house did not go through. The buyer was never able to secure her loan. It is now back on the market - after sitting inactive with "Contract Pending" for several weeks. At this point, I am asking God for a miracle.


3-Day Work Weeks:

The good news: IAM and Boeing seem to have come to terms. There is to be a vote this weekend to see if the members agree and are ready to accept the contract and return to work.
The not so good news: We were notified today that we can expect the work slowdown at Spirit to last 90 days past the strike at Boeing, if it ends now. The expection was that most of us would remain on 3-day work weeks until "likely the end of January."
The "could be" good news: We were also told today to expect a full week of shutdown at Thanksgiving and a full two weeks at Christmas.
The reason it's not good news: Of course, the company is only paying for our usual two days at Thanksgiving and seven days from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day. The other six days (Monday thru Wednesday of the week of Thanksgiving, Dec 22 & 23, and Jan 2) are "on us."

As you know from my previous blog on this, I have been able to charge my additional 16 hours each week to a "Reserved Sick Leave Fund" that we brought over from Boeing, but could not really use. I will exhaust what I had accumulated in that fund the week before Thanksgiving. From that point on, I will be either using my "Earned Time Off" (the term used for companies that no longer separate vacation and sick leave time) or taking time off without pay.


On the Bright Side:

I did take my "usual" vacation trip to the panhandle of Florida for the International Gathering of the Apostles & Prophets this year. I didn't make it last year so my last trip there was the last trip mom & I took together in October of 2006 before her final problems began in November. Joyce went with me and we "road tripped" it down and had nearly three days to relax before the conference started. That was wonderful! Well, it was for me. She burned to a crisp on the beach the first day and was, therefore, miserable for the rest of the week! Nonetheless, we did get in some shopping and a dolphin watching cruise -- and lots of fresh seafood, mostly in open-air, beach restaurants. Ah ... that's the life!

The conference itself was also EXCELLENT. It was entitled "Apostolic Reformation for City Transformation." We truly are entering into the next reformation of the church. The change in how we "do" and how we "see" church in the coming years will be as significant as the change with the reformation Martin Luther started when he nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the church in Wittenberg "for public discussion" (a common custom of the day). And the shift is starting ...

closing on house postponed

For any who haven't heard, I did not close on my house on Tuesday as scheduled. I assume that is some of the fallout from the present economic condition. The buyer was initially working with Chase for her mortgage and had to switch to another lender.

I can understand that given the present situation. However, it would have nice if her realtor had let us know there was an issue a little sooner. It was after 3pm on Monday before we were informed that she could not close at 11am on Tuesday as scheduled.

Among other things, I had rearranged my work schedule since Tuesday is one of the three days I am working. (Yes, we are still on the reduced work week.) Of course, I had scheduled to have the utilties turned "off" (which usually means transfered to the buyer who has then turned "on"). I had to quickly "stop" my "stop order."

I knew when I called on Thursday to schedule the turn off, she had not yet scheduled a turn on. That's evidence that she already knew she wasn't going to be able to close on Tuesday, but waited until the 11th hour to tell us.

And, of course, it continues to "cost" me daily until I finally reach the closing.

She had "requested" (though "demanded" seems like the more appropriate term) an additional 9 days, until the 16th - but the realtor kept saying that she really wanted to get moved and would close as soon as the lender had the paperwork ready. (Part of the hold up was that their appraisal was not done until last Thursday, 10/2). As you know, it's either grant the extension or put it back on the market and start all over.

Well, I'm told the lender will have all the paperwork ready "the first of the week" - but she scheduled closing for 4pm on Thursday, 10/16. Once again, they do not seem to care about "good faith effort" to what they say. :-(

Here's where it gets even more fun!

1. I am taking a series of classes that run 4:30 - 7:30 on Thursday evenings. They ask us to be there by 4:15 to check in each week. How does one close on a house at 4pm and be across town by 4:15? Answer: You can't!
2. I am supposed to be leaving town EARLY the following morning for 10 days. That means I really need to finish my business dealings with the house BEFORE I leave. Specifically, I need to pay off the bridge loan so that I do not have to continue paying interest on it for another 10 days.
3. Even though they did move the timing of the closing up to 3pm, given how long they usually take I cannot be there and wait on them to finish all their paperwork and be sure I will make the class by 4:30 (much less 4:15). Hence, I will have to go in early and sign paperwork. But, of course, I can't get my money early!
4. If you are in class until 7:30pm and are leaving before the banks open the next morning, how do you get the money from the sale in the account and transfered to the mortgage company?

Fortunately, my bank is willing to work with me on the transfer. I can give the information and authorization, and they will make the tranfer as soon as they money is transfered in. However, if the transfer does not occur until after 4pm, it will not show until the following day.

I also have a question in to the Title company (via my realtor) to see if they will make two transfers for me - one to the mortgage company with whom and I have the bridge loan and the remainder (which is not much!) into my bank account. If they will do that, it will make things a little less complicated for me. Pray that I have favor with them.

I will be SO glad when I get past all this! One more week.

more wisteria

I spent another 9+ hours today cutting down wisteria - and even had a neighbor helping me for about 3 of that, so that's 12+ hours of labor. I'm still not "quite" done. I hope the remaining section takes no more than a couple of hours. THEN, we can start working on the wisteria on the other side of the fence (in my neighbor's yard). MOST of what I cut down along the fence on my side "came over" the top of the fence from her side - and was 5-6 ft or more in places on my side! And she even had it cut back once this year!

The long term goal is to cut it completely down on both sides. I have cut mine back "severely" - meaning there is just a "stump" left. However, it will come back if that isn't dug out. Because I do not have another 2-3 days to work on hers, we are going to just trim it this fall -- and try to find time to cut it back to stumps in the spring before it starts really growing. Then we will need to find someone who can dig those out or grind them down like you do a tree trunk. I have a tree that needs to be removed, so hopefully I can find someone to do both jobs. I have a total of nine wisteria bushes. I'm not sure how many she has, but probably the same - since it is along the same fence and she also has them on her patio as I do.

Since I am getting this cut down, I now need to decide what I do want to do as far as landscaping my yard here. That's my next spring / early summer project. :-)

I have really enjoyed getting to know this neighbor. I found a lot out about her today as we were working together. I knew she was widowed fairly recently. Her husband passed away suddenly (in front of my house!) about two and a half years ago. He had been an administrator (vice principal) and she had been a teacher in the public school system.

The best part is that she is a very committed Christian, so we enjoyed sharing some of our "God is so good" stories today.

Guess we'll have time for a few more before we get all of this mess hacked down!


One note on a different subject. The closing on my other house is set for Tuesday (10/7) at 11:00. PTL! It's been nine months today since I closed on my new home.

roofs & wisteria

Today the adjuster came to look at the roof on my new home. It, too, was viewed as needing a full replacement. PTL for fair adjusters for both houses. That was an answer to prayer!

The new roof should be on the place I am selling Thursday. I am still waiting on a definitive closing date & time - but it will be no later than next Tuesday (10/7). Hallelujah! (I have asked to do it Friday or Monday, since I am off those days. We'll see if they oblige.)

I'm not sure when the contractor will be able to do the roof on my new home. Since it is not leaking and I am not needing to close on it, I've told him it isn't urgent. He bumped someone else to get the other one done for me. I've let him know that I can be bumped for him to get someone else who is urgent. It may be late October or early November. That's okay.


As for that wisteria ... who planted that stuff?!

It must be payback for my having planted that 6'-high juniper hedge at the other house and left it for the new owner to deal with there. :-)

The previous owners had planted it around three of the beams on the edge of the patio. They had put support beams up around the edge of the patio to support some 2x8s that are across the top, stood veritically, presumably just for the wisteria to have a place to grow & cover. Well, cover would be okay, if it didn't overtake the whole patio in the process! It is coming down! In addition, it is planted along both sides of the wood fence between my home & one of my neighbor's homes -- and on her back patio as well. Fortunately, she dislikes it as much as I do.

Saturday, I spent 9.5 hours working on cutting it down from the patio! Actually, that was about 2 hours spent cutting it down -- and 7.5 hours spent cutting it up! Given I have no pickup truck, the only want to get rid of it is bag it and leave it on the curb. That means cutting it up in small enough pieces to be able to bag it without all the limbs & branches poking through the bags and causing them to rip. What fun! (NOT!)

I still have one "beam's worth" to cut down on the back patio. But by cut down, I mean all the way to a stump, which I intend to have removed. Then, for this year, I am just going to cut it back along the fence line. I will deal with cutting it out next year.

I had told the lady next door (an older woman who is a widow) that I would trim hers as well - thinking it would be no big deal! (Wrong!!) I talked with her again today. She is able and willing to help cut and bag it - so we are going to work on it together. (You know I am a softie for helping "little ole ladies." Guess I just can't help it - and don't want to try to help it.) Next year, I will try to get it cut down there on both sides. She wants it out, too!

Finally selling the other house this fall means that next year I can focus on relandscaping here. It desparately needs it!

a new roof -- wait, make that two!

As it turns out, my "new" home was not the only one on which the roof had sustained hail damage. Before I heard back from the roofer and turned in the insurance claim on this one, I was notified by my realtor that the inspection at the house for sale indicated it also had hail damage on that roof. That was last Thursday evening.

Last Friday morning, I had the roofer go check that one out instead of this one & I put in the claim to the insurance company. The adjuster was there Tuesday morning. It took until late Wednesday to get the assessment from the insurance company - which had the replacement cost about $1000 below the cost estimated by the roofer. Finally got them "talking" late yesteray and this morning we came to agreed upon amount. (The adjuster apparently had not measured correctly.) The roofer should have it replaced no later than next Thursday.

I didn't put in the claim for this one until I knew I had that one worked -- for a couple of reasons. (1) I wanted my insurance folks & the roofer focused on getting that one worked. (2) One at a time is enough with which to deal! So, I called today to start the process for getting this one replaced. The adjuster is to be here Monday morning and the roofer will be here at the same time -- so we don't have the 2-3 day "back and forth" issue we had with the other one.

I still don't have a closing date on the other house. The contract calls for "on or before" 10/7. I'm hoping for next Friday, 10/3. We'll see.

I'm still on 3-day work weeks. No indication yet when Boeing will resolve the strike. Once they do, we will likely still have some "lag time" before returning to a full work week. The strike started at 12:01am on Monday, 9/8. We are hoping that it only goes a month. (Typically, they will go at least 29 days due to contract issues between Boeing & their customers. There's a clause that if there is a strike lasting more than 28 days, the delivery dates to the customer slide without penalty. So, if they go out for more than a day or two, Boeing doesn't want them back until at least day 29.) However, they still are not even back at the negotiating table, so there is no predicting how this will go.

I was so happy with getting a lot done at my new place the first weekend that I had Friday & Monday off. I spent BOTH days last weekend and most of today dealing with issues with the other house. I am HOPING to get some trimming done at my new place tomorrow. They planted wisteria EVERYWHERE here - and it "takes over." I am planning to trim as much as I can with my electric hedge trimmer, clippers & shears tomorrow. I'm thinking I may (later) borrow a chainsaw to finish the job off and cut them all the way back. Or have a tree removal company come take them out completely!

This week was week five of the ten-week class I am taking at WSU. It has been very interesting. However, there's quite a bit of reading & other assignments in preparation for each week, so that has taken time as well. And I've had some things I've done and a couple more that I need to get done for the Home Owners Association here, for which I am secretary.

So, no danger of my getting into any trouble ... I don't have time for it!

catching up

Can it really be nearly a month since I posted? Needless to say, I've been busy.

Here are some updates:

- Dean was released from the rehab hospital on Friday and is at home. He still has a long way to go, but he's also come a LONG way already. His attitude is wonderful! Everyone who visits comments on how positive he has remained through all the challenges. We've had two "work days" (really "work evenings") over there to get things ready for him. The first one was focused on things that had to be done to accomodate him coming home - repairing the brick walkway (taking up a whole section & re-laying it), pouring a concrete pad by the front gate, making and installing a rail up the inside stairs, putting bars & other things in the bathroom, etc. - the second one centered on getting the yard in shape. We have someone mowing for them, but there's all the weeding & trimming that has to be done as well.

- My friend's brother finally got tired of his battle for life. He made the comment about being tired of fighting to his sister and a friend one evening - and slipped away before the following morning. His funeral was this past Tuesday.

- My house on Stoneborough Court still has not sold. Today is the last day of the 6-month contract I had signed with the realtor I was using. She has decided to close her real estate business down the end of the month, so it made the conversation about choosing to list with someone else easier. The new listing should be posted tomorrow. Their average time on market is 34 days. This is one time I am hoping to be "less than average"! I've spent time & money sprucing the yard up. Okay, really, mostly "maintenance." I went and got the weeding back under control. I paid to have the 6' high juniper hedges trimmed and the same gal took care of limbing the trees that needed it as well. (Some were hitting on the roof.) Last weekend, I finally took the time to plant some annuals in the bare beds. (Is it spring yet?)

- I'm still working on the unpacking & settling in. Got one project done this weekend & a start on the next piece of it. Three more large boxes out of the way in one of the storage areas. :-)

And ... I'm ready for a (true) vacation!
(No, I don't have anything planned.)

oh the yardwork!

I moved to a patio home to get out of yardwork ... but, so far, it hasn't worked!

For starters, the one I bought leaves "the beds" to you. That really means, they mow the grass & everything else is yours. Once I have time to rework the beds (which won't be until next year at least and may take 2-3 years to do), that won't be so bad. In the meantime, I spent one Saturday trimming trees that hadn't been trimmed in years and another one weeding.

Then there's the matter of the house on Stoneborough that still hasn't sold. I have been extremely blessed by my next door neighbor there, who had mowed for me (and probably more likely for Mom!) the past 2-3 years had continued to do so for me until it sold. When I went by today to check and see how bad the other "yard maintenance" issues had become, he saw me there and came over to tell me he really doesn't have time to do that for me anymore. So, now I have to see about getting that place mowed as well as getting over to weed the beds and trim the 150'+ of 6' high juniper hedges and also trim some limbs off the trees that are overhanging the house. The worst part at this point is trying to figure out what to do with all the trimmings. I used to cut them up small enough to bag them so the trash service would pick them up. (That takes 2-3 times as long as the trimming!) But now, I have no trash service there. So, it is either bag them and haul them home to be picked up here -- or find someone with a truck who is willing to let me borrow it to haul them to the dump (during hours when it is open).

I am really ready for that house to sell!!!!

a better start

It was a good day today ...

It started by getting some much needed rest yesterday. Imagine that, some rest on our "day of rest." What a novel concept!

Because of that, I was actually up and at work by 7:00am. That hasn't happened in a LONG time. (There have been some mornings I was there at 6:15 to "work the parking lots" to get signatures for the union decertification, but that's a different issue!)

So, the next statement should be that I left work on time. Unfortunately, no. I worked through lunch due to back to back meetings and still did not leave until 6:00pm. Remember, I work 10 hr days, so that's really only 1 hr late. But, add to that the fact that I worked 3.5 hours on Friday (my day off), and I may be ending my "no overtime" streak this week -- unless I can find a day to flex out some time. But with all I have to do & the meeting schedule, I doubt it.

But, the concrete guy finally came to remove the framing around my sidewalk. He's supposed to bring some sod tomorrow -- since he waited so long that the sod they dug out has died. But, at least the side walk is finished. (Actually, he called to tell me he hadn't received a check from me. I assured him that was accurate, since he had not completed the job. He decided he could make it by today. :-) )

The window repair guy came today to complete a repair the former owner paid them to do, but they had to wait until the weather warmed to do it. Finally "switched" the winter & summer clothes in my closet this weekend. Until week before last, I was still wearing wool blazers!

I got a letter from the IRS. They have finally decided to pay me some money they owe me from 2003. LONG story. I'm not sure how long it will take to finally get the check, but at least they have decided they really do owe it to me.

And, finally, the realtor let me know that of the five people/couples that come to the open house at my Stoneborough Court house yesterday, three seemed interested. One has been before, but wants me to drop the price unreasonably low. Hopefully, one of the other two couples will be seriously interested. It's been on the market 4 months tomorrow. That may not sound long for some markets, but the economy & housing market are strong in the midwest, and, particularly, here. A month or so ago, Wichita was listed as the #1 market in the nation. So ... 4 months is a long time here!